Instead of being a good example for the people, particularly his voters who have paved the way for his political career at Langkat District`s legislative body, Ibrahim Hasan alias Ibrahim Hongkong has become a common enemy of the state and citizens, who have been struggling for rescuing Indonesia from the grips of drug kingpins.
His alleged involvement in a trans-national drug trafficking has ruined his political career after the National Democrat Party (Nasdem) sacked him from the political party`s membership as disclosed by Nasdem Secretary General Johnny G Plate.
Shortly after his arrest, Johnny G Plate remarked that Ibrahim, nabbed by the law enforcers for owning 105 kilograms of crystal meth that they confiscated in the raids on Sunday and Monday, had been fired from the party as revealed in a letter that the party`s general chairman, Surya Paloh, signed.
Instead of defending his party`s cadre, Johnny G Plate asked the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) law enforcers to punish him severely for his role as the big fish of the trans-border drug trade.
Deputy of the BNN Drug Control Inspector General Arman Depari said his people have been tracing the suspect`s wealth and assets. Among the items of his wealth that the BNN investigators have seized include his bank account book, Automatic Teller Machine cards of several banks, cars, and properties.
"Our efforts to track down the suspect`s wealth remain focused on Medan, Langkat (in North Sumatra) and areas of Aceh Province. In doing so, we work with the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK)," he said.
Regarding the suspect`s involvement in the cross-border drug smuggling activities, Arman Depari quoted Ibrahim`s confession that he had frequently engaged in smuggling the crystal meth from Malaysia to the Indonesian territory.
In smuggling the drug from the neighboring country into Indonesia, he chose to do it through the sea. The last smuggling operation that the suspect led took place last July where he controled the delivery of 55 kilograms of crystal meth from Malaysia.
The BNN personnel have also nabbed Syafwadi for his alleged role as a drug courier for drug dealer Ibrahim. "The suspect was arrested at the Kualanamu International Airport, North Sumatra Province," Arman Depari told Antara here on Thursday.
Syafwadi was alleged to have worked for Ibrahim by delivering crystal methamphetamine that he smuggled from the Malaysian city of Penang to the middle of the sea along with another suspect named Daus, he noted.
The suspect confessed to the agency`s investigators that he had delivered packs of crystal meth four times as requested by Ibrahim. "For each delivery that Syafwadi made, he received Rp80 million (US$1=Rp14,642),"Depari stated, quoting the suspect`s confession.
In the raids conducted on Sunday and Monday, members of the Langkat BNN, customs agency, and the navy`s joint team foiled a trans-national drug ring`s attempts to smuggle 105 kilograms of crystal meth, packed in three rice sacks, and 30 thousand ecstasy pills in Aceh Province and a small town of Pangkalan Susu, North Sumatra Province.
After developing the case, the joint team members detained the drug couriers, comprising Rinaldi, Ibrahim Jampok, Ibrahim Pusung Baru, Rahman, Joko, Amat, and Daus.
With millions of drug users and a huge population, Indonesia has been perceived by both local and trans-national drug dealers as one of their potential markets in Southeast Asia.
According to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the former coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs, the value of drug trades in Indonesia is estimated to have reached at least Rp66 trillion, where 75 percent of the drug trafficking may be directed from inside the prison.
While considering the real threats of the illicit drugs that the drug kingpins smuggled into and traded in the country over the past few decades, the Indonesian Government still applies harsh punitive actions against the drug kingpins.
Even, Indonesian President Joko Widodo had ever ordered the police and National Narcotics Agency (BNN) officers to conduct a shoot-at-sight operation on drug kingpins.
The president`s order to take the harsh punitive actions against drug dealers was given on Sept 3, after the drug traffickers attacked and threatened the lives of the police and BNN officers. Since then, the law enforcers have taken the tough action on the ground.
Various elements of society support the legitimate harsh actions as the illicit drug trafficking and drug abuse have become a major threat to Indonesia. Ibrahim Hasan and those working for him should now be responsible for their acts of crimes.
Like many other drug dealers, who have been locked in jail for years or have ended with death penalty, Hasan and many other suspects need to keep in mind that what they have done so far may have contributed to the deaths of some 50 Indonesians every day.
Those Indonesian citizens die of the illicit drugs every day, while the lives of other seven million drug users in the country are also in danger if they fail to get out of the vicious circle of drug abuses.
(T.R013/A/E002)
(T.R013/A/KR-BSR/A/E002) 24-08-2018 00:49:38
Reporter: Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
